Worldwide there are now over a billion Internet users, representing one large global consumer base or marketplace. The total amount of goods sold online has been steadily increasing each year as the Internet gains in both popularity and familiarity.
Studies have shown people shop online because of lower prices, a wider selection of products, easier comparison shopping, and many just prefer not having to travel to stores to make a purchase.
How Much Experience Does The Internet Marketing Company Have? Do They Have Any Special Qualifications Or Designations?
Longevity in the industry is a good indicator of stability and skill. Online marketing firms that have been in the business for a while and built admirable reputations are usually known for sound design work and customer service.
Choosing an internet marketing company that has been around longer means they will be more likely to be around in the future for ongoing maintenance and updates to your website.
The answer to this question will give you a general idea about the skill set at the web company. Having a tertiary qualification is good. Having a lot of experience is better, and combining experience with a tertiary education is best.
Most of us probably consider ourselves rather well informed on the subject of internet marketing, which is also known as online marketing, web marketing, i-marketing, or e-Marketing.
After all, we browse the internet, do some blogging, communicate in social media sites, and also see how online advertisers are trying to persuade us to buy. While most people probably do understand what internet marketing is, the word itself has often been misunderstood and used loosely even by those in the internet marketing field.
When a blogger speaks of internet marketing, he is actually talking about blogging. When an affiliate marketer speaks of internet marketing, he is actually talking about selling. When an online network marketer speaks of internet marketing, he is actually talking about recruiting and prospecting. Each of these people is talking about one part of the total internet marketing structure.
So what really is internet marketing?
Internet Marketing is a total system of interacting web business activities designed to plan the product, price, promotion, and how to distribute the want-satisfying products and services to present and potential customers.
Product (Is your product: innovative – truly unique, adaptive – replacement of existing product, or imitative – new to your company but not new to the internet marketplace. Branding and packaging do influence products),
Price (How much do you think I can get for this item? If the price of the product is too high or too low, it may have positive or negative effect on the company’s internet marketing campaigns),
Promoting your business online is to persuade internet users to accept, resell, recommend, or use the product, service, or act favorably upon the idea being promoted, and
Distribute or Place (Since your product is now ready for its market, you need to establish distribution strategies, including selecting channels of distribution).
Most internet marketers define internet marketing as the advertising of products and services on the internet. This narrow definition reflects the sales and selling orientation which has permeated so much of online business.
Advertising on the internet is one part of online promotion (others include online personal selling, online sales promotion, and online publicity), and online promotion is one part of the total internet marketing program.
It should be noted particularly that “online promotion” and “online sales promotion” are different. Online marketing is not any one activity, nor is it exactly the sum of several; rather, it is the result of the interaction of many activities such design, development, online advertising, and online sales.
However, we need to also recognize that i-marketing has other dimensions far broader than our definition. In the design aspect of internet marketing, your web site is very important. It is where the traffic will be directed to and also where most of the sales will come from.
So you need to have a uniquely designed web site that is well structured, search engine optimized with the right keywords and description, contents and graphic rich, and has the marketing elements to improve your visitors’ conversion ratio.
In the development aspect, the product planning is very important. You need to plan on developing or getting the right product or service to the internet marketplace, and at the right price.
Will your product be sold through affiliate marketing, network marketing, directly to consumers, or directly to other businesses (B2B)? There is many other online business models you can develop based on the specific needs of each person or business when launching your web marketing campaign.
Your online advertising aspect is also one part of the total online marketing program. There are several online media you can use to create brand awareness about your product, service, idea, or company.
When considering online marketing ideas in your business, you will want to try and figure out which strategy is best for you. One thing I can tell about the internet marketing world is that it isn’t easy. I can remember when I first got started out, I relied on pay per click advertising to get me the bulk of my traffic.
Pay per click advertising is fine, but it’s best used as a way to test out a market. For example, if you wanted to test Google AdSense on your website and wanted to see how many people will click on your ads, pay per click would be a good start for you. But aside from that, it’s not a good long term solution – especially if you’re losing money.
Most beginners who start out have a lot of online marketing ideas that they want to put to use but just can’t. They think that they have to do a wide variety of marketing strategies to get the word out about their business – but this just isn’t true. You should stick to one method of getting traffic and try to become a master at doing that.
I would know about these things, because I have been there myself. When I first got started, I had a ton of online marketing ideas that I wanted to put to use and when I did so – none of them made me any money. I had no idea why, and I was just erratic with my marketing methods. None of them made me money, and I was just left with a failing business after failing business.
For example, when I started out, I used to try and promote my products on eBay. This was one of my online marketing ideas that absolutely didn’t make any sense. For one, I was selling a lot of the same products that other people were selling, and my product price point was extremely low. I was always trying to find wholesalers and dropshippers who could fulfill my product for me, but this only led to more frustration.
If I were you, and I was looking for some online marketing ideas, I would stay away from eBay. Instead, take up a good strategy such as video marketing. With video marketing, at least you know you’re getting the bulk of your traffic for free. With eBay, I had to pay listing fees and also had to pay a fee when my item sold – so this was bad for business.